Help Destitute Moms with AIDS Care for Their Kids

Why we are working so hard?

We are often asked how we know can tell if our programs really make a difference. Sometimes it seems that the changes are so slow as to be almost invisible.

Bit by bit, week by week, child by child, we help fragile families in our AIDS Patient Family Support Program stay together, insure that they have enough to eat, have access to medical care, and that the children are safe to survive and thrive. And, we keep the kids in school. The progress is agonizingly slow, but the wait is worth it! The combined success of these efforts goes far beyond simple survival.

This year, 2012 , we saw 5 students in our Aids Patient Family Support Program graduate from High School and enter college .We were fortunate to find sponsors for that first year's tuition. In 2013 we have 6 more students on track to graduate from High School. We have another 13 now in grades 9 through 11. This is an amazing result from a group of just 90 school age in the FSP program. We have another 4 students in a rural project in Prey Veng Province who have also just graduated from High School.

Let's put it in context: Many of the moms in our FSP program are illiterate and they do not understand the importance of education. This is where we come in. We get it! We know that just 27% of kids in Cambodia graduate from high school and only 40% of students finish middle school, so getting through grade 12 is a big accomplishment ! We have emphasized education from the beginning and now it is really beginning to show results. Yes! We are so proud of our kids! From " throw away, homeless slum kid" to high school graduate! Now onward to college student!

The academic success of our FSP students has all been made possible by the generous contributions of you, our supporters.

Now, we face a new challenge ahead: funding college . Truthfully, we never planned for it. It was not on our horizon. Yes, we thought that perhaps one or two kids might make it, but 15??

We will need to find 2013 funding for our 5 current college students , plus college funding for 6 more new high school graduates in 2013 . We also have 4 students from our Rural Assistance program ( wish serves the rural poor) who are also dreaming of attending college. From modest rural families, two new High School graduates are working construction for $ 3.00 a day to support themselves. College dreams will be lost unless we can raise funding for these and our other high school graduates.

Though costs are low - about $ 500-$800 per year for tuition and books per student and room and board for some, it adds up to a total of 15 college students in all in 2013!

We have just posted a new project # 12004 , Build Dreams! Send Cambodian Students to College which will become an ongoing program to help our high school graduates and students realize their dreams and go on to college.

What a journey: from homeless and poor in an FSP family to college student. Together, we can accomplish such amazing things and this is a wonderful example!

Thank you for making this possible for our kids! They are your kids too. Your support has gotten them this far. Let's take them the rest of the way!

Barbara & Mark Rosasco

PS. Please check with your company to see if they will match any or part of your 2012 donations.

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